Promotional products have been a marketing mainstay for decades, with obvious benefits that every business could use. They’re particularly effective at making a positive, long-lasting impression that has downstream brand-boosting effects for the company. This lasting impression is one reason why promotional printing remains a favored marketing tactic.
Another reason: Promotional printing technology has improved with time, to the point where just about anything imagined can be made into a promotional product.
What Items Can Commercial Printers Brand for Promotional Products?
Experienced commercial printers have access to a collection of advanced printing technologies, capable of branding an array of promotional items. Some examples include:
- T-shirts
- Hats
- Bags and totes
- Pens
- Mugs and thermoses
- Calendars
- Notebooks and journals
- Phone chargers
- Earbuds
- USB drives
- Mousepads
- Lanyards
The list goes on as there are hundreds of items that can be branded by a commercial printer, giving companies as much flexibility as they want when using promotional marketing.
Regardless of what promotional items a business chooses to woo customers with, there are a few advantages with integrating promotional items into your marketing strategy. They include:
1) Promotional Items Establish a Positive Brand Reputation
Every little edge matters when trying to build a brand’s reputation. Whether you are giving away promotional products at an industry convention, a community gathering, or another high-volume event, you’ll have precious little time to win your target audience over. In most cases, you’ll only have seconds to convert someone into a potential lead or customer.
If all your team has is a pitch, they’re already behind. It will take more than a simple pitch to stand out among competing brands.
Promotional items are a simple but effective way to make people more receptive to your brand’s message. Most people, when receiving an item for free, are psychologically primed to respond favorably to the giver. In other words, they’re more likely to feel obligated to listen to a marketing pitch or even give their contact information. In this way, promotional materials buy companies a bit more time and room for error when attempting to convert someone into a lead.
2) Promotional Products Quickly Spread Brand Awareness
Promotional items also make impressions on others who see or handle the items.
Let’s say your company hands out a bunch of promotional coffee mugs – a popular option. One of your recipients takes their new mug with them to work every day for the next year. For the next 52 weeks, that mug is essentially reinforcing your brand in a potential customer’s office.
The ultimate example of this is apparel. Promotional t-shirts and hats offer maximum at-a-glance visibility for any brand. Apparel usually lasts a long time, and it’s excellent for delivering brand messaging.
To some degree, all promotional items are designed to do this – develop brand awareness beyond the item’s recipient.
3) Promotional Printing Provides a Long-term Brand Boost for Businesses
Promotional products leave a lasting impression because they’re designed to last over time. Wherever the recipient takes their new branded item, they’re also taking your brand’s logo and name along with them.
If it’s a phone charger, every time they charge their phone, they’ll see your brand. If it’s a pen, every time they write something down, they’ll see your brand. You get the idea. Before long, they’ll burn an image into their brain of your company’s branding.
There is a copious amount of research that shows people are more likely to purchase from brands they recognize and trust. The data varies from study to study, but the general conclusion is that brand recognition is a massive advantage.
Promotional materials are designed to reinforce your company’s branding and reinforce brand recall. That way, when one of your leads needs to make a purchase, the first thing to come to mind will be your business.
Why a Trusted Commercial Printer is the Ideal Promotional Marketing Partner
Promotional items offer several advantages to marketers, but they can only be fully leveraged if your company has a commercial printer acting as a reliable supplier. Here are three compelling reasons:
- Commercial printers can provide a larger range of promotional products – Experienced commercial printers typically operate in expanded facilities fitted with advanced printing technologies. Screen printers, pad printers, laser engravers, CNC machines – these technologies give commercial printers unmatched versatility and reliability in developing an extended range of promotional items. By partnering with a commercial printer, companies can customize their promotional marketing to a greater degree.
- Commercial printers can produce promotional items at volume – Commercial printers are equipped to produce promotional items in large quantities. With their high-velocity production capabilities, experienced printers can provide superior lead times and help companies ramp up their promotional marketing as quickly as needed.
- Commercial printers can guarantee high quality promotional materials – In addition to quantity, experienced printers also reliably provide high quality promotional items. Commercial printers are deeply knowledgeable in configuring printing technologies, so they can deliver crisp color and typography. And, if there are flaws in the final product, an experienced printer can quickly troubleshoot the problem and correct it. In short, when businesses partner with a commercial printer, they’re investing in guaranteed quality.
Printed Promotional Products Support a Company’s Brand
Promotional marketing is intended to boost a brand’s reputation and recall, providing ongoing brand benefits long after the campaign has ended. In this way, promotional items leave a lasting, positive impression on potential leads – the kind of impression that every business strives for. If promotional marketing efforts are backed by an experienced commercial printer, businesses can fully leverage their promotional marketing with an expanded range and volume of giveaways to further boost the brand.